At the Heart of Every Great Organization Lies a Strong Culture

By: David Pavlovic

05/13/2016

No matter the size of your business, the key to a long-lasting organization starts with a strong company culture. For some, keeping that startup feel is essential for an organization’s rapid growth, and it’s what propelled BCD Meetings & Events (BCD M&E) to the global business main stage.

Scott Graf has served as the Global President of BCD M&E since 1997, but his origins as a leader began in a small town near St. Louis. An avid baseball player, after high school Graf went off to Vanderbilt University on an athletic scholarship to play baseball for the next four years, where he learned the importance of a winning attitude and teamwork. Graf began his professional career in an entry level logistics type role, quite literally working his way up the corporate ladder where he now manages an organization with over 700 clients, 1,000 global resources and 18,500 different programs that run on an annual basis.

Company culture is a top-down initiative; the attitude and behavior of your President of C-Suite executives sets the tone for all of your employees. For Graf, maintaining an open-door policy at the office is important. Not only does he get to keep an open line of communication with his employees, it gives him the opportunity to better understand the various positions on his team and what their needs may be. It’s about cultivating a welcoming environment that his employees feel comfortable in and inspires individuals to chat freely amongst each other.

And that’s what BCD M&E is all about. Meetings, events and company retreats can re-energize teams and inspire change within your organization, but it’s important to plan your meetings with the right culture in mind. BCD M&E works with major organizations to help manage meetings and better align people and companies together to build stronger partnerships.

As your organization grows, it’s crucial to remember that great company culture can make or break your expanding network. One challenge BCD M&E currently faces as they continue to grow globally through mergers and acquisitions is identifying the right culture initiative that is effective on a global level. Your messaging, for example, needs to make sense for clients and employees who come from different backgrounds; those who live in a place like China as well as those from a place like the United States. Similarly, another challenge growing organizations face is the importance of staying fresh, innovative and competitive with global outreach. As BCD M&E continues to expand, a key element to success lies with integrating their global teams into the company culture.

Client satisfaction should be at the very top of any company’s priority list, and that’s what BCD M&E wants to communicate to the clients they work with. BCD M&E wants their customers to know that in any situation, they have their client’s back, and it’s why they’ve created the Performance Improvement Team (P.I.T.). The BCD M&E P.I.T. crew is brought in when a project or initiative falls off-track or needs renewed energy. For BCD M&E there’s not only an emphasis on internal success, but they also make it their mission to create the best experience for all of their clients to help them reach their goals.

To encourage teamwork across the globe, BCD M&E launched an internal incentives program called the Platinum Circle Club. It’s a program that allows individuals to give points to other team members on a global scale to recognize these employees for their work. The Platinum Circle program works to strengthen an employee’s understanding and implementation of BCD M&E’s company values while rewarding the winners with an all-expense-paid trip for them and a guest to a tropical destination. Despite the obvious rewards, the program works to encourage BCD M&E employees to really understand and live out the company’s values when they step into the office.

At the end of the day, a strong company culture will propel your organization from good to great. It’s the difference between using external incentives to motivate your employees and having internally motivated employees show up ready to conquer the day. Organizations looking for a helping hand when it comes to effective meetings and inspirational events need to look no further than BCD Meetings & Events. Graf and his organization know a thing or two when it comes to successful organizational culture; it’s something they live every day.